What really matters to you the most about your career? Think about that for a moment. Money? Power? Reputation? Now, answer these follow up questions: What if you lost it all? How would it make you feel? Would your priorities shift?
An interesting technique used to help people focus on what really matters is called negative visualization, which is a way of imagining losing things that matter to you. Why would anyone want to focus on losing things rather than focusing on what can be gained? The answer boils down to appreciating what you have. Practicing negative realization allows you to ground yourself in all of the good that surrounds you. It allows you to not take things for granted.
It can be sobering to consider how losing everything would affect your career. It can be incredibly helpful when navigating through periods of uncertainty. For example, let’s say you are resisting change around the implementation of a new work process. Your manager is becoming increasingly frustrated by your resistance and your relationship is tenuous, at best.
In the moment, you are resisting primarily because you believe the new process will require skills you do not possess, thus exposing your weaknesses, which could lead to your manager terminating your employment. This is an all too common thought process and your fear about losing your job is leading you, ironically, into a negative feedback loop where you will achieve what you fear most.
What if, however, you began practicing negative visualization and began to think about actually losing your job? Once you realize that the pain associated with losing your job is greater than the pain of adapting to the change, you can appreciate all of the benefits being employed brings. Negative visualization shifts your thinking away from what you do not want toward what really matters most.